Bumpy Seat, advice please!

[Edianb]

I got Model D Rower, it's only around 40k meters, pretty new. I always wipe the monarail and rollers with Windex after each workout. But few days ago, I start to feel the slightly bumpy seat. I did several deep clean on monarail and rollers, no help and it becomes more bumpy. I look after the rower very carefully and it's nearly brand new, I don't expect such problem came so quick. When I use fingers to feel the rollers, I do feel gritty in some point. I try to scratch them with my nail and plastic folk, no help and there are still here. But I cannot find anything on rollers except some black marks which even cannot be wiped off. I found bit slightly deep scratches on the stainless steel rail as well.

What I could guess is my kids played the rower after they returned from beach, and some sands droped on the rail and embeded in the rollers.

Any advices how could I fix this issue? Do I have to replace with the new rollers?

May I keep rowing or I have to wait till the issue be fixed? Will it crack the stainless steel rail?

[Citroen]

The problem with any tiny amount of muck on a roller is that it feels like the Princess and the Pea.

What I do in the gym is:

Flood the top of the rail with water from my drinking bottle (it's not my floor).
Run the seat back and forth full length of the rail over the pool of water to get the loose muck off. You need to get a full rotations of the rollers.
Then get a paper towel and place that length ways in the wet patch so it gets soaked.
Run the seat over the wet towel (this needs to be done slowly you don't want the towel to foul the rollers) until the towel shows some of the stubborn muck off the rollers.
Remove that wet towel, rinse and repeat.
Last round is rinse with water and don't mop it up (it's not my floor), row a workout.
When I'm done I'll clean the top of the the rail for the next person who'll use it and I'll wipe the floor.

You won't need new seat rollers before 40,000,000 metres.

[Ombrax]

At home I spray glass cleaner (a generic version of Windex) on a paper towel and run that up and down the rail a few times, then with a different paper towel + cleaner press that against each of the four upper rollers (one at a time) and carefully move the seat back and forth up and down the rail. If for whatever reason the rail is again messy from the roller operation, I give it another quick wipe. At home I do that whenever necessary, at the gym (now closed due to COVID) I do it before every session. At the gym I don't have access to glass cleaner, so I use the damp disinfecting wipes they have for the equipment (which they had even before COVID became an issue).

In general it works well and I don't feel much roughness. The annoying thing is if a roller picks up something in the middle of a workout, and I don't feel like stopping, so I have to endure it until the end of that piece.

[Edianb]

The problem with any tiny amount of muck on a roller is that it feels like the Princess and the Pea.

What I do in the gym is:

Flood the top of the rail with water from my drinking bottle (it's not my floor).
Run the seat back and forth full length of the rail over the pool of water to get the loose muck off. You need to get a full rotations of the rollers.
Then get a paper towel and place that length ways in the wet patch so it gets soaked.
Run the seat over the wet towel (this needs to be done slowly you don't want the towel to foul the rollers) until the towel shows some of the stubborn muck off the rollers.
Remove that wet towel, rinse and repeat.
Last round is rinse with water and don't mop it up (it's not my floor), row a workout.
When I'm done I'll clean the top of the the rail for the next person who'll use it and I'll wipe the floor.

You won't need new seat rollers before 40,000,000 metres.

Thanks, I'll try it.

[Edianb]

At home I spray glass cleaner (a generic version of Windex) on a paper towel and run that up and down the rail a few times, then with a different paper towel + cleaner press that against each of the four upper rollers (one at a time) and carefully move the seat back and forth up and down the rail. If for whatever reason the rail is again messy from the roller operation, I give it another quick wipe. At home I do that whenever necessary, at the gym (now closed due to COVID) I do it before every session. At the gym I don't have access to glass cleaner, so I use the damp disinfecting wipes they have for the equipment (which they had even before COVID became an issue).

In general it works well and I don't feel much roughness. The annoying thing is if a roller picks up something in the middle of a workout, and I don't feel like stopping, so I have to endure it until the end of that piece.

I bought Windex Orignal, and already tried many times and didn't help. It's still bumpy and rough. Sometimes I could hear clicking noise when I'm rolling. I just worry about maybe sands embeded in the rollers or damaged the rollers. I can feel some pits on the rollers but cannot scratch anything off. I'm not quite sure it just it was, or some hard particles embeded in and then drop off, that damaged the rollers.

[Ombrax]

I just worry about maybe sands embeded in the rollers or damaged the rollers. I can feel some pits on the rollers but cannot scratch anything off. I'm not quite sure it just it was, or some hard particles embeded in and then drop off, that damaged the rollers.

If you can't see anything embedded in the the rollers and anything there is purely an indentation such as a pit or a "valley" then it really shouldn't result in anything you can feel or hear (unless it's really huge). My intuition is that something has to protrude above the surface or the roller for there to be a significant issue.

If you really want to investigate the rollers it isn't that hard to remove the seat.

C2 provides the info here (in a document showing how to replace the rollers):

https://www.concept2.com/files/pdf/us/i ... cement.pdf

Good Luck

[jackarabit]

Shoe hygiene is important. Pull your feet out and leave the trainers on the foot pads. Yeah, I don’t do that at the gym (which isn’t open) but I am observant enuf to have found out that quartz sand can indeed embed in the rollers so I do use this protocol on home rower. Anything less would be just too shoddy.

Parental supervision and/or pre-instilled fear of consequences is also useful but when what’s done is, changing out the rollers is the order of the day. Incidentally, a human hair on the rail won’t embed as will a sharp, angulated chunk of the quotidian swarf but the rollers passing over is distracting. Brush it off en route as you make an extra slow recovery. An ounce of prevention might just give you 40MM meters on your new set of rollers or the bearings fail, one of which will happen first.

[dsamant]

I put a few drops of mineral oil on a clean rail and roll the seat to spread it across it. keeps it smooth and much easier to remove the black spots that form afterwards using glass cleaner.

[MiddleAgeCRISIS]

I periodically run the rollers over a car wash cloth and clean the rails every row.

[Edianb]

Shoe hygiene is important. Pull your feet out and leave the trainers on the foot pads. Yeah, I don’t do that at the gym (which isn’t open) but I am observant enuf to have found out that quartz sand can indeed embed in the rollers so I do use this protocol on home rower. Anything less would be just too shoddy.

Parental supervision and/or pre-instilled fear of consequences is also useful but when what’s done is, changing out the rollers is the order of the day. Incidentally, a human hair on the rail won’t embed as will a sharp, angulated chunk of the quotidian swarf but the rollers passing over is distracting. Brush it off en route as you make an extra slow recovery. An ounce of prevention might just give you 40MM meters on your new set of rollers or the bearings fail, one of which will happen first.

How do you deal with the quartz sand embeded in the rollers? I think the sand will damage the roller and make it not smooth any more.

I cleaned the rail and rollers anagin and nothing changed.

Do you think if I keep rowing, the rollers will eventually back to smooth due to the abrasion of rolling on the stainless steel rail?

Or the bumpy seat is not caused by the rollers? Something else wrong with the rower?

[Cyclist2]

Is the seat too tight on the rail? If it doesn't move easily back and forth, maybe the bottom rollers are causing the bumpiness. The seat should roll freely toward the fan when you pick up the end of the rail.

[jackarabit]

Replace the current top rollers. How to parent and use shoes is to avoid repeat.

[AndyWicks]

I use GT85 on the rails and rollers, seems to get anything off.

Not sure if this is good or bad, but it works for me